On Civil Disobedience

It is hard to find a thinker more relevant in our days than Henry Thoreau. The topics he dedicated his work to—social justice and “conscious consumption,” the denial of the cult of material prosperity and love for nature, inner self-sufficiency, intellectual improvement, and of course, the fight against the racism that prevailed in his time in the USA—have become programmatic for the entire civilized world in the 21st century. This collection includes journalistic and philosophical works that demonstrate different aspects of Thoreau's intellectual, spiritual, and social position, including the classic abolitionist essay “On Civil Disobedience,” the charming little story “Ktaadn,” dedicated to the author's ascent of the mountain of the same name in New England, and the article “Slavery in Massachusetts.”